Evelyn Eaton
Evelyn Sybil Mary Eaton (22 December 1902 - 17 July 1983) was a Canadian poet, novelist, and short story writer, known both for her early novels set in New France, and for later writings which explored the spirituality of the western native American people. Life Born in Montreux, Switzerland, Eaton was the daughter of Canadians Daniel Isaac Vernon Eaton, an army officer from Nova Scotia, and Myra (Fitzrandolph) of New Brunswick.Evelyn Sybil Mary Eaton, The Nova Scotia Eatons. Web, Nov. 26, 2008. Evelyn was the younger of 2 daughters. Her father was killed in World War I, while directing the artillery assault at the battle of Vimy Ridge in France in 1917. She wrote poetry from an early age, publishing her earliest poem in the Montreal Star at 8 years of age.Eaton, Evelyn Sybil Mary, Canada's Early Women Writers, Simon Fraser University. Web, July 25, 2014. Educated at the Netherwood School in Rothesay, New Brunswick, Heathfield School in Ascot, England, and at the Sorbonne in Paris, Eaton rejected many of the social conventions of her time and class, giving birth out of wedlock to a daughter while at the Sorbonne. She published her debut collection of poems, Stolen Hours, in 1923. 2 novels written in 1938 and 1939 received little notice, but in 1940, the publication of Quietly My Captain Waits, a novel set in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) in the early days of French settlement, brought her commercial success. She became an American citizen in 1945. A series of novels set in New France followed, as did a teaching appointment at Columbia University from 1949 to 1951, a Visiting Lecturership at Sweet Briar College, Virginia from 1951 to 1960, and a position as writer in residence with the Huntingdon Hartford Foundation in 1960 and 1962. As described in 1974 autobiography, The Trees and Fields Went the Other Way Eaton had always felt that she had some native American or Amerindian heritage, and in the 1950s she began to explore native American spirituality. A series of short stories published in the ''New Yorker'', 4 more novels, a volume of poetry, and a ballet-oratorio would grow out of Eaton's continuing adoption of Native American spiritual practices. Recognition 7 poems from Eaton's collection, The Small Hour, were set to music by Pauls Earls.Seven poems: from Evelyn Eaton's The small hour: for voice and piano (Rochester Photo Copy, 1964), WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 25, 2014. Publications Poetry *''Stolen Hours''. London: Selwyn & Blount, 1923. *''The Interpreter''. London: Selwyn & Blount, 1925.The Interpreter, Google Books. Web, July 25, 2014. *''The Encircling Mist'' (fantasies in prose and verse). London: Selwyn & Blount, 1925. *''Birds before Dawn''. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1943. *''The Small Hour''. Francestown, NH: Golden Quill Press, 1955. *''Love is Recognition: Selected poems''. Georgetown, CA: Dragon's Teeth Press, 1971. *''Snowy Earth Comes Gliding''. Independence, CA: Draco Foundation, 1974. Novels *''The Hours of Isis: Based on the legend of Isis''. London: Baskerville Press, 1928. *''Summer Dust''. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1938. *''Pray to the Earth''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1938. *''Quietly My Captain Waits''. New York & London: Harper, 1940; London: Cassell, 1940. *''Restless are the Sails''. New York & London: Harper, 1941. *''The Sea is So Wide''. London: Harper, 1943; Toronto: Harlequin, 1952. *''... In What Torn Ship''. New York & London: Harper, 1944. *''Journey to a War''. 1946? *''Heart in Pilgrimage''. New York & London: Harper, 1948. *''Give Me Your Golden Hand''. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Young, 1951. *''By Just Exchange''. London: Cassell, 1952. *''Flight: A novel''. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1954. *''I Saw My Mortal Sight''. New York: Random House, 1959. *''The King is a Witch''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1965; London: Cassell, 1965. *''Go ask the River''. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1969; London: Cassell, 1969. Play *''The Progression'' (a Ballet-oratorio). (Audio cassette), Draco, 1967. Non-fiction *''Every Month was May''. New York: Harper, 1947; New York & London: Harper, 1948. *''The North Star is Nearer''. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1949. *''The Trees and Fields Went the Other Way''. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1974. *''I Send a Voice''. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1978. *''The Shaman and the Medicine Wheel''. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1982. Juvenile *''John, Film Star: A novel for boys''. London: Nelson, 1937. *''Canadian Circus''. London & New York: Nelson, 1938. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Evelyn Eaton, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 25, 2014. See also *List of Canadian poets References *''Joy Before Night: The last years of Evelyn Eaton'' (a biography of Eaton by her daughter, Terry Eaton). Wheaton IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988. Fonds In 1966, the Evelyn Sybil Mary Eaton Collection, an archive of her books, manuscripts, and personal papers, was established in the Mugar Memorial Library at Boston University. Notes External links ;Books * ;About *Evelyn Sybil Mary Eaton at Canada's Early Women Writers. *Evelyn Sybil Mary Eaton at The Nova Scotia Eatons Category:1902 births Category:1983 deaths Category:Canadian novelists Category:Canadian historical novelists Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian short story writers Category:Canadian women writers Category:University of Paris alumni Category:Columbia University faculty Category:Sweet Briar College faculty Category:American novelists Category:American poets Category:American short story writers Category:Writers from Nova Scotia Category:Canadian people of English descent Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Women poets